


Corpse

by serenesavagery (windrunnerdreamer)



Category: Stormlight Archive - Brandon Sanderson
Genre: Angst, Betrayal, Hurt No Comfort, Implied Relationships, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-03-26
Packaged: 2021-03-01 05:02:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23329684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/windrunnerdreamer/pseuds/serenesavagery
Summary: "No! Kaladin! Don't!" Dalinar yelled, but Kaladin wasn't listening because it couldn't be true.Itcouldn'tbe true.Adolin couldn't be Odium's Champion, hecouldn't.It couldn't be the truth, it couldn't be- Kaladin thought desperately.
Relationships: Kaladin/Adolin Kholin
Comments: 8
Kudos: 12





	Corpse

The skies were unforgiving and did not let him fall where he wanted to. 

It reminded him of someone. 

Someone slipping from his grasp. 

* * *

_Not Adolin. It can't be Adolin._

_Tell me it's a lie._

~~_It's not a lie. It's never a lie._ ~~

* * *

_There. There he is._

Someone in black armor, but Kaladin would know his hair anywhere. 

Kaladin would know that figure anywhere. 

How many times had he laughed with that person, how many times had that person restored hope in him ~~only to break it over and over like his heart.~~

* * *

He lets himself fall down.

There's nowhere to go but down. 

"Stormblessed." 

_"Hey, bridgeboy!"_

_"You talk like a girl sometimes!" A laugh._

_"Hey. It's going to be all right."_

"Why did you lie to me?" Kaladin whispers, to the memory of Adolin Kholin. 

_"I love you. And I always will. I love you."_

_You weren't the one meant to lie to me._

_You lied even to the liar._

_And she told me the truth. That she loved you just as she loved me._

~~_Why did you lie to me?_ ~~

~~_Why did you tell me everything was going to be all right?_ ~~

~~_If you were just going to betray me?_ ~~

~~~~"I did what had to be done." Adolin says coldly, raising one hand to stop the listeners from killing Kaladin.

The calm before the storm. 

Kaladin steadfastly ignores the stinging of his eyes. 

"Why did you lie to _me_?" 

_I didn't lie to you, they all did._

_Why lie to me?_

There, Kaladin thinks with unmitigated satisfaction, sadness crushing Adolin's eyes. 

"You weren't the one that was meant to be hurt." Adolin says instead, meeting Kaladin's eyes. 

~~_What color were they today?_ ~~

~~_Blue as Adolin's, a false reflection?_ ~~

~~_Brown as the memory and knowledge of knowing that you can never trust anyone?_ ~~

"Why hurt me then?" 

Kaladin hadn't meant to spit out, choke out the words, they just tumbled out, a childish instance of hurt. 

Adolin did not face him this time. 

"Because you made your choice. And I," he breathes in, black Voidlight rising to his lips. "Made mine." 

_You were supposed to be different. You were supposed to be good._

_Why?_

_W h y?_

_WHY?_

"You just couldn't care less, could you? You were the one that was hurt. And that was all that mattered to you." Kaladin spits out, a lump forming in his throat. 

Like everyone else. 

Like Moash. 

"That's not true." Adolin says, but he's on the defensive now. 

Kaladin laughs, but it's a broken sound. 

"I _trusted you_! I trusted you! And you just, you just proved to me that you're no different!" Kaladin howls, the wind blowing along with his words, slapping him like Adolin's broken trust. 

"And you broke it in the end, didn't you." Kaladin says softly. 

Adolin never has. 

And that's what breaks they who loved each other, beyond repair. 

* * *

_"He trusted you. Till the end. Even when we lost all hope on you."_

Odium's Champion does not reply to that memory. That memory of what was supposed to be a sibling. 

He has given up his pain now. 

But not wholly. 

Just like the corpse of the one that trusted him. 

There is his corpse, large and sinuous, full of sobs when held. 

And Odium's Champion is not let go of that one reminder of pain, the reminder of someone who had loved him. 

Even when it killed him. 

**Author's Note:**

> Ha. Feel free to kill me. This is a hot mess! Infer from it what you will!


End file.
